North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On May 4, 2011, at 1:52 PM, Alan Haigh wrote:

> Hate to throw cold water on all the positive revues of Liberty, but I don't
> feel it is a distinctive apple at all.  Doesn't have that special Macintosh
> crunch of Mac (which lasts about 2 weeks off the tree!) not especially
> aromatic as is Mac, but harder fleshed, which can be appealing.  To me it's
> an average apple, but the tree is a fruit machine annually and the disease
> resistance is useful if you're growing organically. 

There are 4 "Macintosh-type" apples that I buy every year in the fall.  Each 
has different advantages and disadvantages.  They are:  Mac, Macoun, Liberty, 
and Cortland.  I like all of them, although here in eastern MA, I prefer 
Macoun and Mac.  But I've bought and eaten them all for years, from several 
east-coast sources, so here's my comparison.

Macintosh:  A tasty apple and the local standard.  It's tart, sweet, and has 
good aromatics.  It tends to be a soft apple, but is crunchy when fresh or 
under-ripe.  (But less sweet and aromatic when under-ripe.)  It doesn't keep 
well and gets soft and mealy when I store it in my home fridge, or worse, on 
the kitchen counter.  It makes great apple sauce, but cooks to mush and I 
don't love it in pie, despite an excellent cooked flavor.  Actually, none of 
these apples is great for pie, although the Cortland is okay.

Macoun:  This is a larger, prettier, sweeter Mac with an incredible crunch.  
I don't know how to describe it, but it sort of cracks in your teeth.  And 
yet, it's not a hard, dense apple like the Honeycrisp, it's still fairly 
soft.  On average, the aromatics aren't as good as a Mac, but the experience 
of eating it is so great that it's my favorite of the 4.  It's a little 
larger than a Mac, and apparently is very hard to grow well outside of the 
Northeast.

Liberty:  This is a smaller, better keeping Mac.  It's still not a great 
keeper, but it keeps better than a Mac, and I always buy a few at the tail 
end of the fresh Mac season.  It also makes terrific sauce.  The most 
flavorful, aromatic "mac" I've ever eaten was a Liberty, but on average it 
may be a little less flavorful.  I think it tends to get harvested a little 
under-ripe.  I've never grown it, but it's supposed to be very easy to grown, 
and if you would like to grow Macintosh but don't want to be constantly 
spraying for scab, this is a good choice.  It can also be grown as far south 
as central NJ.  The Macs grown at the same orchard were horrible, they got 
mealy before they developed any flavor.  The Libertys weren't bad.

Cortland:  This is a larger, greener, better keeping Mac.  It has fewer 
aromatics than a Mac, but it holds up a little better in storage, a little 
better in cooking, and a whole lot better in fruit salad. (It browns much 
more slowly.)  It ripens a little later than the Macs, too.

Hope that's helpful.
Ginda